Bio: Uriah Edward DeWitt, Grant Parish Louisiana Submitted to USGENWEB by: Edward Payne DeWitt ep236@bellsouth.net Tue, 05 Apr 2005 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** By his eldest grandson, Edward Payne DeWitt It is with great joy and some trepidation that I write and submit this story, or rather, series of stories. Being the eldest son of the eldest son, I have always felt rather close to my Grandpa. I rejoice over the fact that I got his middle name rather than the first. Even as I write this, I’m sitting at his old oak roll-top desk at which he made his living for so many years. I’ve seen stories in print that were and were not true. I’ve heard stories about him that were flattering and some that were degrading. U.E. DeWitt was born the first-born child of his parents on 30 Nov., 1869. His parents were William LaFayette DeWitt and Mary Ann Ruth Fletcher DeWitt. She was known as Ruth and W.L.F. was known as Fayte. Both, according to Angeline Fletcher’s wonderful genealogy book A Fletcher Genealogy, were born in Mississippi. Fayte was a wounded veteran of the Civil War. When Uriah was 12 years old, his father passed away. When he was 15, his mother remarried. Shortly thereafter, she and her new husband, Simeon Chelette, moved to Avoyelles parish along with all of Uriah’s siblings, leaving Uriah at what was later known as Verda. More about that later. The mystery (and I have never heard this mentioned) is why he did not make the move. Was it because he had found educational opportunities at the old place of residence? Was it because he stayed behind to look after the William L.F. DeWitt homestead? Or, was it (and, again, I’ve never heard it suggested) that he didn’t get along with his new step-father? He did, however, have a good relationship with his siblings. About the next few years of Uriah’s life we know very little except that early on he demonstrated a great thirst for skill and knowledge, as was demonstrated by many other events of his life. On page 223 of her DeWitt genealogy book, Roots and Shoots, Avis Williams Dewitt (same family, different pronunciation), tells much about the family influence in the thriving community and about Uriah’s part in it in particular. Also, on page 111 of Verda, Another Era, by Audie Lee McIlwain Dyson, it is recorded that Uriah was the secretary of the 1893 formation of College Hill, later chartered as Verda College Company. Now comes Verda! In about 1900, when a major sawmill was built and placed in operation and a railroad came through there came a need for a post office. Uriah got the job as postmaster, and with it came the privilege of naming in memoriam of his infant daughter, who after having lived only 10 months had died. For Verda Naomi DeWitt were named two post offices, three schools, a church and cemetery. Uriah was also a noted singer and teacher of Gospel music. His eldest son Osbern, used to tell that many people would drive their wagons all night to get to hear the “Basso Profundo” voice when Uriah was to sing at a gathering. This before singers had the advantage of amplification. On June 2, 1893, Uriah married Emma Louise O’Neal, daughter of Mitchell M. and Sarah Sholars O’Neal. To them were born Bertha, Osbern Lee, Verda Naomi, Edna and Aubrey Alton. As I alluded earlier, his thirst for skill and knowledge led Uriah into many endeavors. And, as I mentioned earlier, I write this at the oak roll-top desk at which he made his living as an accountant and notary public. I’ve not been able to ascertain just when he received his notary authority, nor when he acquired this great old desk. I do have in my possession a record of his having presided over a land transaction in 1912. I’m sure he had been active in those pursuits much earlier. Also, Uriah was a highly skilled carpenter. Danny Humphreys told me how, when an expansion was added to the Verda church, Uriah, with only a handsaw and square, cut the rafters for the “hip” roof for the younger men up on the building to nail into place. Not an easy feat, which most modern carpenters cannot do. This was in 1944 when Uriah was 75 years old. Among Uriah’s other accomplishments, Deacon DeWitt served as the church clerk of Verda Baptist Church for a period of 37 years, between 1911 and 1948. Along the way, Uriah was involved in various entrepreneurial pursuits that, on one occasion, led to his financial undoing. How do I tell this? I have only heard it from family members who were (or thought they had reason to be) bitter over some of the things that transpired. As it was related to me, Uriah would take options on timberlands with expectations of selling the timber to the saw mill at Verda. When he was well extended, with mortgages having been let on all the property he owned, he was stricken by typhoid fever and in his delirium, was persuaded by unscrupulous men to sign away his rights to all he owned. Some of those involved were men well thought of in the community and I’ll not name them here. Suffice it to say that Uriah often said in my hearing, “Ill-gotten gains never profited anyone very long, in light of eternity.” As a result of his losses he and Emma had to move into the house with her parents. Then, after the house had passed into the hands of his son-in-law (who loved his in-laws deeply) he and Emma continued to live in the house for the remainder of their lives. This author has heard it said of Uriah that he could walk a horse to death. Probably that was not literally true, but I have been told by reliable sources, that in his younger and middle years, that his legs served him well. His eldest son, Osbern, told of a time that the two of them had been doing some work in Winnfield and got through too late on Friday to catch the train home to Verda. They inquired about a “jitney” and were told the fee would be twenty dollars. This was when twenty dollars was a lot of money. They set out afoot and when they got to Atlanta, they learned that it would still cost ten dollars to get to Verda. He, Uriah, told Osbern, “well we’ve made ten dollars this evening, so why not ten dollars more.” Joseph Thomas DeWitt, Jr. recently told me that Uriah was in the habit of walking to visit relatives in Dry Prong; a portal-to-portal distance of 23 miles, in the 1930’s when Uriah was about 55 years old. On another occasion, the DeWitt and I.V. Williams families were to go to Iatt for a picnic and fishing trip. Uriah got up in the middle of the night and walked to Iatt. The family met him when he was about halfway home with a string of fish that reached from his shoulder to the ground. When asked about such behavior, he said, “Well, I determined that the atmospheric conditions were conducive to fishing, so I took advantage of the opportunity.” Uriah was also an excellent gardener. When his eldest son, Osbern, was living in the house and farming both the O’Neal and Williams places, Osbern took a mule and plow, and broke the garden spot for his father. Uriah resented this and was indignant that someone else would do any of the garden work that he habitually did with a spade. Uriah continued to do his notary work for the rest of his life and, according to him with the court’s permission, on occasion acted as legal counsel in civil matters. One little known facet of his life was his passion for law in which he kept up correspondence with his state and U.S. representatives, keeping his views before the legislature. Emma passed away in 1937 and Uriah in 1948. They are buried in Mars Hill Cemetery.